Children's corner: Mid-year vacation activities

Mid-year vacation is a good break for kids after a particularly stressful first semester. However, parents should teach children how to use their leisure time to take up new hobbies and widen their learning to incorporate new activities and skills. Here are some suggestions to help you select an appropriate craft or physical activity for your child.

Adli Rizkallah Art for Children:
Join the Adli Rizkallah workshop at Diwan bookstore's Qirtaziya branch to stretch your child’s imagination and reinforce his or her artistic skills. The mid-year program gives kids the opportunity to engage in various activities that require mental and artistic skill. Drawing, arts and crafts, origami, pop art, drama games and storytelling are among the activities. The bookstore will host two of these workshops: from 29 January to 2 February, and 5 to 9 February. Kids aged between 4 to 12 years are welcome, but make sure to register early to avoid disappointment.

El Sawy Culture Wheel:
The Culture Wheel is offering a painting workshop in which children will be taught the basics of drawing and coloring by a professional instructor. Sessions are one hour long, every Saturday at four o’clock. The center is also holding a children and arts workshop for children between 5 and 12 years old, with an emphasis on fostering the power of children’s imaginations. Each session, kids develop a new handicraft skill and learn how to make a piece of art with their own hands. The program runs on Fridays and Saturdays from 12 to 1 pm.

MOM’s:
An indoor playground and amusement center providing both educational and entertaining activities for children. There is a small corner cafeteria to relax or chat with friends while your kids are having fun. If you have a busy day, there is a baby-sitting service for a three-hour maximum period. Classes for girls include fabric craft, cooking, and dance classes such as ballet, hip hop and jazz. For boys, there are pottery/ceramic and woodwork classes, in addition to mini kids gym for exercising. Science classes — where children conduct simple experiments — are on Tuesday, while on Wednesday children can plant trees. Membership costs LE500 per week or LE800 for two week. The edutainment center is open seven days per week from 10 am to 10 pm.

Address: 4 Ismail Mohammed Street, Zamalek — Telephone: 0227382632

Mini-architect program:
During the mid-year vacation Diwan bookstore has a “mini-architect program,” an innovative and extensive course helping children understand the broad lines of architecture at young age. The program comprises four workshops focusing on shapes and patterns, human proportions and measurements, architecture through sense, and building materials. It caters to children in grades one and two, and takes place at 10:30 am daily from Sunday 29 January to Wednesday 1 February.

Shorouk bookstore:
Develop your child’s capacity to value reading and increase his or her knowledge and creativity by engaging in a storytelling and art workshop at Shorouk bookstore's Zamalek Branch. The workshop involves drawing, practicing cutting out different shapes and designing a complete picture from them, and learning other simple handicrafts such as clay modeling. It runs every Saturday from 5 pm to 7 pm, and attendance is free.